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Hey sweet friends! Thanks so much for stopping by today! Before we begin, don’t forget to follow along with me on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, so you don’t miss another post!

Today, I wanted to share with you a fun and inexpensive way to add a little pizazz to your home!

A few weeks back, when I was perusing one of my fave thrift stores, I noticed this trailer hitch cover for 99 cents and had to have it….I knew exactly what I was going to do with this beauty! I know, I know…He looks pretty boring and outdated. And yes, I definitely agree with you, but that’s the beauty of thrift-store shopping! You have to look past what you see at first glance and realize the potential of what this dull deer head can become!

Here’s a before pic…

Here’s what you’ll need:

First, spray paint your deer head. Don’t worry about taping off the antlers….The Rub N Buff will easily cover any of the white paint you get on your antlers. 🙂 Let dry overnight (i.e. if you’re planning to tape off the edges around your antlers, like I did.).

Oh, and while you’re at it, be sure to enjoy a few Krispy Kreme donuts while you paint….That melt-in-your-mouth goodness added a touch of magic!! (Meant to take that box out of the above picture…Oops!)

Once your white paint is dry, tape around your antlers, and, using your pouncer, spread the Rub N Buff on your antlers. This paint will take a little while to dry, so don’t touch it for at least a couple of hours….BUT be sure to take your tape off immediately, once you’re finished painting the gold onto the antlers!

So, what do you think about my trailer hitch turned gorgeous deer head?! I’m in love with it, and I hope you are, too! I’d love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for stopping by!

Hello friends! Thanks for stopping by! Today, I wanted to share with you a quick and easy project that costs very little, yet packs a powerful punch in your decor! But before we begin, I wanted to remind you to follow along with me on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, HomeTalk and Facebook, so you don’t miss another post!

Let’s get started!

What you’ll need:

chalkboard paint (located in the paint section at Walmart, Home Depot, etc.)

foam sponge with wooden handle

paper plate

painter’s tape

frame with glass

My diy chalkboard started out like this….

The print’s pretty ugly, huh?! It definitely needed to be covered!

First, tape up the edges of your frame, and make sure there are no unsealed edges! You don’t want that black paint dripping onto your frame. You could always chip it off later if you needed to, but that’s an added step that you just don’t want to have to do! 🙂

Next, with your sponge in hand and paint poured onto your plate, gently paint the chalk paint across the glass, making sure to spread it evenly. Once your glass is covered, let it dry for about an hour before applying your next coat. If not, as you paint the second coat, some of the paint will come up. You don’t want that! 🙂

Third, after you’ve completely covered the glass with chalk paint, gently pull the painter’s tape off. (Don’t “rip” it off, or you’ll end up pulling some of the chalk paint off as well! Trust me, I know! Lol!)

Finally, you’ll want to “season” your newly-painted chalkboard with chalk! How to season: take a piece of chalk, turn it on its side, and rub the chalk back and forth AND up and down on the board, covering the glass completely. (If not, you’ll NEVER be able to fully erase what you’ve written on your board!) Wipe with a soft rag or paper towel, and then blow off any excess. Now, it’s ready to be used!! You can add your favorite scripture, or google “chalk art” and find all sorts of inspiring ideas! In addition to the diy scripture below, here’s another one that I did (source included). Or, if you don’t want to do any art, you can always simply hang a pretty wreathe in the middle!

Here’s what the finished product looks like now in our Sunday school room…

That’s it! This project is very easy, and I think every home owner needs at least a couple of chalkboards in their home! This decor is such an inexpensive upgrade and makes a beautiful statement!

Also, on another note, did you happen to notice the lamp and shade in the above pic? That’s actually a thrifted lamp, and it received a major overhaul! If you’d like to read all about that diy project, the easy tutorial on recovering a lamp shade can be found here, and the how-to on spray-painting a lamp can be found here.

Thanks for stopping by! If you have any questions at all, please feel free to comment below, or stop by Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, HomeTalk and Facebook and say hey. It always makes my day to hear from my sweet readers!

Hello friends! Decorating for Christmas can sometimes be a daunting task….so much garland, lights, ornaments and red and green! But hopefully, this little vignette will inspire you to keep it simple and just have fun in the process!

All of these items, and I mean every single item (well, except for the cheese board from Pottery Barn) were picked up at various yard sales, thrift stores and antique stores. My favorite purchase is the set of santa mugs and santa pitcher….The total for this purchase was $4!!! What?! Yes….$4! 🙂

Look how cute and vintage-y he is!

This little car is on loan from my sweet boy. I promised him I wouldn’t spray paint that car like I did the antlers. (He was traumatized.)

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in our household. Special memories being made here. So thankful. I hope you enjoyed this little preview of our winter wonderland! If you’d like to see more Christmas ideas, check out this post on diy Christmas glitter houses. They were so much fun to make! Or, visit this post on our farmhouse-styled Christmas entry! In this accessory-filled post, I share all about mixing new items with vintage finds…and how it all came together. 😉

You know I love to hear from you! If you have a minute, please comment below, or stop by my Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and follow along as I share with you inspiring decor, yummy recipes and thrifty finds! Merry Christmas! 🙂

Hey friends! Thanks for stopping by! Recently, I did a little redecorating in our Sunday School class at church, and most of the decorating was completed on a shoestring budget! (Thank you to my wonderful hubby for helping me paint….ehem…..actually for doing most of the painting!!) Today, I’d like to share with you one of those projects….transforming an old, dilapidated lamp shade into a beautiful accessory!

A few weeks ago, I picked up a huge lamp with the shade for $5….It worked just fine and the bones were beautiful, but it needed some major lovin’! Here’s a before pic….(I’m sorry I don’t have the shade on the lamp! I totally forgot to take a complete pic before I refinished it!)

After spray-painting the lamp base (tutorial on how to spray paint a lamp found here), I recovered the shade with some fabric that I had laying around the house. This project is super-quick, and you probably already have all 3 supplies that are needed!

Here’s what you’ll need:

fabric

hot glue gun and glue sticks (found at craft stores or Target/Walmart in the craft section)

scissors

1. Start out by laying your fabric face down on the floor. Place the shade on one end of the fabric, while leaving plenty of seam allowance (about 2 inches) on either side of your shade. And then roll your shade across the fabric to see how much you’ll need. (You can either trace the shade onto the fabric as you roll it, or you can just eyeball it….which is what I did.) Now, you can cut your fabric! BUT before you cut your fabric to size, PLEASE measure twice…no three times…before cutting! Not that I’ve ever cut my fabric too short….Ahem. 😉 Not fun to fix that problem!

2. After cutting your fabric, lay the shade about 2 inches away from the fabric’s edge. You are now ready to hot glue!

3. Place about a 6-inch line of hot glue along the inside edge of the shade (starting out on either the top or the bottom of the shade). Tightly fold your fabric over the shade and push down the fabric onto the hot glue, holding it in place for a few seconds. Keep doing this all the way around the shade while continuing to smooth out your fabric, on both the top and bottom. Also, if your shade is like mine, where the “spider-fitter” (or metal piece that connects your shade to the lamp) is at the top, carefully cut slits in the fabric, so that the fabric will fold over the shade correctly.

4. Once you’ve hot glued the fabric tightly AROUND the lamp shade, place a skinny strip of hot glue UP the outside part of the shade’s edge. (On a side note, you can either leave the edge raw….which is what I chose to do….or you can iron your seam to give it a finished look. But since my lamp was against a wall, I didn’t have to worry about the back edge.)

And there you have it! A beautiful shade that adds so much life! You can also take it a step further and add trim along the top and bottom edge for a more dramatic effect. What do you think of my lamp shade? Are you inspired to make a lifeless lamp look gorgeous again? If so, I’d love to hear about it! Comment below, or stop by and say hey on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram. It always makes my day to hear from my awesome readers! 😉

Hello friends! For a few weeks, I’d been on the hunt for a pair of matching lamps for our master bedroom….Lamps that had pretty curves for the right price!

My goal was to get a steal of a deal…no more than $15 each….I realize that’s cheap, but I also knew that, with a little patience, I could find what I was looking for. So a few weeks ago, I found these beauties at a yard sale! The man was selling the lamps for $5 each. But since I wasn’t certain that the lamps worked, I offered $4 for the PAIR, and he said yes! Can you believe that?! I kept my fingers crossed, hoping that when I plugged them in at home, they’d actually turn on. Aaaaaand….they did! Score! Sometimes it doesn’t always work that way, but yay for times when it does!!

What you’ll need:

Krylon Colormaster spray paint (I used the ivory color.)

Rub’n Buff (at any craft store)

pouncer sponge

painter’s tape

drop cloth

Let me make it clear that I’m in no way a professional, so I’m sure there are other ways to go about this project, but this is just what has worked for me. 🙂 I generally wing it….My philosophy is that it doesn’t matter how you go about a project, as long as the finished result meets your standards!

So first, you’ll want to move to a well-ventilated area and tape off the lamp wires – at least a little – so they don’t turn white! 🙂

Next, spray away! The lamps will dry fairly quickly to handle…maybe 5 minutes or so. Once they were dry, I brought them inside, placed them on some paper towels (in case there were any areas that weren’t quite dry yet).

The lamp color almost looks white, doesn’t it?! But it’s the perfect shade!

Third, squirt a tiny amount of the the rub’n buff onto a paper plate….A little goes a very long way! Dip your pouncer sponge into the gold paint and, using a steady hand, gently slide your pouncer along the bottom edge of the lamp.

So there you have it. A quick, 10-minute project that adds a wow factor!

To top it off, I found my lamp shades at Target on clearance for $13.97 each! Woohoo for more good deals! Plus, these shades ultimately helped me to reach my goal of spending around $15 each on the lamps!

What do you think of my garage-sale lamps? I’d say spending $4 on a little risk was totally worth it! Comment below, or stop by and say hey on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, HomeTalk and Facebook. It always makes my day to hear from my sweet readers!

Hello everyone! Thanks for stopping by! With most of my fave bloggers already posting about Christmas decorating, I figured it would be a good idea for me to go ahead and post about my fall decorating! Better late than never, right?!

Let’s get started with the diy fabric garland below…It was a simple diy from the leftover fabric of my sofa pillows. Super easy to make, the garland packs a big punch! I like to mainly focus on the family living area whenever I decorate for the season….Makes things much simpler. And all of us need simple! (I’m preaching to myself here.) 🙂

Here’s a little snapshot of the entry. This diy chalk art idea came from Pinterest, via Valerie McKeehan. Isn’t it so cute?!

Through the front door is our great room…where lots of snuggles and laughter fill the air!

Our coffee table is the Ikea Lack table, and it’s actually two tables held together by clasps. (Yes, clasps. My sweet hubby knew how to hide those unsightly clasps SOMEWHAT inconspicuously. But I’ll take it. Lol!) They’ll eventually be attached by brackets. 🙂

And that beautiful old wooden toolbox was another yard sale score.

And I’m in love with my birchwood logs below….which, by the way, I will not be burning. They were only purchased for their prettiness. 🙂 Oh, and the olive bucket was only $10 at Walmart. (Regular price…no joke!) Eventually, I’d love to “age” this galvanized bucket!

Below are pics of our mantle…

The black bar under the tv is our sound bar. If you don’t already have one, go get one on Black Friday. This little speaker packs some serious sound!

The diy banner was so fun and easy to make. The supplies were either items that I already had (i.e. the black sharpie and pompoms), or items that were clearance purchases from Michael’s (i.e. the fabric flowers and the pre-cut canvas banner).

The diy “B” is an imitation from the Pottery Barn moss initials. Again, super-easy to make! All I did was hot-glue moss in random places all over my wooden letter (bought at a yard sale). That’s it! To see the full tutorial, and to get more ideas on using moss, click this link!

Don’t you love this little wooden box that’s holding all my pumpkins and pinecones? I found it at a flea market!

Below is my vintage bar cart with old wooden boxes, a beautiful old floor lamp, a handmade doily, a vintage washboard that says, “busy bee” (because that’s what I like to be, hee hee), an old clipboard, and some fun decorating books….All of these items were yard sale purchases!

Our two leather-tufted chairs were a craigslist find, as well as the Ikea Ektorp sofas. And I know that the thought of white couches might cause some of you to gasp a little, but after two years of chocolate stains, dirt stains….and just life….I can honestly say they still look brand new!! And if there’s ever a stain that simply won’t come out, it’s comforting to know that I can easily replace my current machine-washable Ikea Ektorp slipcover with another one! It’s totally worth it!

Well, that’s it for part 1 of my fall home tour. Part 2 will be on the blog in the next few days, Lord willing. (Here’s Part 2 of the Fall home tour that I promised!)

Hello friends! So I just finished up a very easy pom-pom pillow that adds just a touch of pizzazz to our little home.

First off, I need to mention that I’m the world’s worst at following the rules when it comes to sewing…I don’t have a whole lot of patience for completing projects that take more than 5 minutes. The quicker I finish, the better! So all of you pros at sewing…be forewarned!

What you’ll need:

fabric

pom poms

zipper

pins

sewing machine

scissors

seam ripper

pillow insert (preferably down)

Start out by measuring the length and width of your pillow insert. Since I had a 20×20 pillow insert, I added an inch to each side of the fabric for the seam allowance.

Then, I ironed all the edges, so that I have a “line” to follow when sewing. Make sure you “measure twice, cut once!!” It would be terrible if you cut your fabric too short!

Next, pin the pompoms to one edge of the fabric, making sure the pompom ribbon lines up with the ironed edge. At the end of the edge, carefully cut to size the pompom. Sew. You’ll do that on each edge.

(Also, don’t mistakenly sew the edge to the outside of the pillow. Not that I need to remind any of you. No, you wouldn’t make that mistake….only I would.) (See this next pic below. Do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT follow this pic below. Ahem.)

Do you see what I did there? Not a good idea. Nope. You don’t want the white thread showing up on the outside of your beautiful fabric. Anyway. Moving on….

After you realize that you’ve sewn the pompoms to the outside of your fabric, rip thread out and start over. Repin. Sew, making sure that this time, you unfold the ironed edge that you want to sew….As you see in the pic below.

Much better. Repeat on the other 3 sides. Once that’s complete, sit back and marvel that you’ve actually accomplished something semi-professional! Woohoo. You’re halfway finished!

This next step requires that you match the right sides together, making sure that the pompoms are tucked inside.

Repeat around two more sides, leaving the last side open for a zipper. Now this step may sound daunting to some of you, but I promise, it’s not as hard as it sounds.

Pin one side of the zipper to your fabric. (Double check that you have pinned the right side to the right side, if you know what I mean. We don’t want to add any unnecessary steps to your wonderful project!)

After you’ve sewn one side of your zipper to the fabric, flip it over to the other side (leaving the zipper unzipped) and do it again.

See? Wasn’t that easier than you expected?! Now sit back and enjoy your masterpiece!

Thank you for stopping by! Please take a moment and leave a comment. I’d love to hear about your experiences with sewing and if you’ve had any setbacks!

Since the fall weather is just now arriving in the South, I’m finally getting around to my fall decorating. (Better late than never!) I don’t know about you, but I absolutely canNOT decorate for the fall until it gets chilly outside!

My first area to tackle was the dining table….

You don’t really need to spend a whole lot on new seasonal decor. In fact, you probably have most of it already in your home. Pinecones and acorns from the backyard, old books and brass, vintage boxes, burlap, white pumpkins, and dried moss are always classic choices for your fall decorating that never go out of style!

A great place to start gathering your items is your local thrift store. In fact, the leaves, candlesticks, candles, over-sized doily, antique brass bells, antlers and tablerunner all came from various second-hand shops! Score!! Oh, and the little birdies from Pottery Barn Outlet were only 99 cents a piece. Another score!

What are some ways you’ve decorated your table for the fall? I’d love to hear! Also, coming up in one of my next posts, I’ll show you what I did with these beautiful fabrics!

How have you been inspired to decorate with Fall around your home? I’d love to hear about it! Comment below, or stop by and say hey on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter, HomeTalk and Facebook. It always makes my day to hear from my sweet readers!